She said the development team
sees value in collecting the data
because it helps them under-
stand ways to better inform
students on the importance of
philanthropy.
“We know that a lot of stu-
dents are unaware of the roles
that private philanthropy plays at
the University, and how private
philanthropy impacts students
experiences,” Walsh said. “It’s
really important for us to under-
stand what students are aware
of, what they’re not aware of,
what their opinions are because
it’s important to us to develop
programming that will help ben-
efit students’ education and their
involvement in philanthropy.”
During
the
Giving
Blue
Day fundraiser, students were
encouraged to donate to Uni-
versity units, including student
organizations, to receive match-
ing gifts from private donors.
About 80 student organizations
fundraised more than $157,000.
The top five fundraisers were
Dance Marathon, the Michigan
Marching Band, the Medical
School’s Student-Run Free Clin-
ic, Alternative Spring Break and
MUSIC Matters.
Though student donors may
have been most prominently fea-
tured during Giving Blue Day,
Walsh said student donors have
long contributed to the Universi-
ty’s development efforts. Walsh’s
job is to help student organiza-
tions fundraise, and in particu-
lar, help them appeal to potential
student donors on campus.
“Donors range from under-
grad to doctoral students, and
are representative of the vari-
ous passions that exist across the
campus,” she said.
For many students, she said
the incentive to donate stems
from their interest in the work of
the student organizations.
“Everyone can’t take care of
patients themselves, but they can
make a gift that will make that
happen,” Walsh said. “They may
not be able to go fix up houses in
the inner city, but they can sup-
port an organization that can do
that. That’s what all of our donors
do: they make things happen, and
our students realize that they
can make things happen through
philanthropy whether as donors
or whether as fundraisers, and,
in some cases, both.”
However,
many
organiza-
tions find it difficult to track the
amount of student donations
they receive each year because of
the various ways that they raise
money, in addition to the fact
that most do not keep track of
how much specifically students
donate.
LSA junior Macauley Rybar,
the external director of Dance
Marathon, said the organization
often faces a similar problem.
Because of the way DMUM is set
up, where dancers are personally
responsible to meet an individual
funding goal of $300, he said
there is really no way to track
who donates what amount.
In contrast, Giving Blueday
provided them the unique oppor-
tunity to track donations because
the student-donated funds were
matched.
“The first time we received
anything close to (trackable
funds) was on Giving Blueday of
this year, because we were able to
track student donation due to the
student matching funds avail-
able for student organizations,”
Rybar said.
Some student organizations
also allow students to donate
directly to other students, as
opposed to external causes or
activities.
MUSIC
Matters,
founded
in 2011, holds an annual char-
ity concert each year as well as
SpringFest. Together, the events
raise money to not only bring in
popular artists, but to give back
to various aspects of the Univer-
sity community.
In their first year, the group
raised $10,000 to donate to Mott
Children’s Hospital. In their sec-
ond year, they raised $50,000 to
create a need-based scholarship
for in-state students entering
the University. For the past two
years, the organization allocated
donations toward the creation of
a camp for underserved Detroit
youth.
MUSIC
Matters
President
Darren Appel, a Business senior,
said the group employs a two-
tiered approach: continuing to
support the scholarship, while
also supporting a separate cause
each year.
3-News
STUDENTS
From Page 1
2-News
2 — Friday, April 17, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
TUESDAY:
Campus Voices
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WEDNESDAY:
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LEFT Ann Arbor resident Paul Majar makes bubbles at the Fool Moon event on Washington Street on Friday. (Robert Dunne/Daily) RIGHT
Mimes Kyle Watts and Jenny Choate perform during the Festifools parade on Main Street on Sunday . (Connor Bade/Daily)
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Closing ceremony
features prayer of
mourning, remarks
from survior
By ALYSSA BRANDON
Daily Staff Reporter
In honor of Yom HaShoah, the
National Holocaust Remembrance
Day, students gathered on the Diag
on Wednesday and Thursday for
an annual 24-hour reading of the
names of those killed during the
Holocaust.
Members of Hillel’s Conference
on the Holocaust invited passersby
to read quotes from several Holo-
caust survivors while student vol-
unteers read a number of victims’
names every hour.
The event also featured a special
ceremony Wednesday evening, in
which student volunteers sang tra-
ditional Hebrew songs and prayers.
Students who attended the cer-
emony also lit six candles in honor
of the 6 million Jews killed during
the Holocaust.
Two COTH volunteers addition-
ally shared stories of family mem-
bers who survived the Holocaust.
LSA freshman Shira Kitay, COTH’s
assistant survivor relations chair,
shared her grandfather’s story,
involving how he and his fam-
ily went into hiding after the Nazi’s
invaded Poland.
“My grandfather barely evaded
death in so many instances,” she
said during the ceremony. “His
story is one of strength, persever-
ance and a lot of luck.”
In an interview following the
event, Kitay said talking about the
Holocaust is important in keeping
the testimonies of survivors alive.
“The Holocaust is the biggest
failure of humanity,” she said. “It’s
important to carry on these stories,
especially since we are the last gen-
eration that will hear them from
survivors.”
Kitay also said talking about her
grandfather’s struggle is a way for
her to honor his determination to
survive.
“He suffered through all that so
we could have a family,” she said.
“I’m here today because my grand-
father persevered. I would not be
alive if he had given up.”
In the closing ceremony of the
vigil Thursday afternoon, Holo-
caust survivor Irene Butter spoke to
students about ongoing Holocaust
Remembrance projects in Europe.
Butter, who is also a profes-
sor emerita in the School of Public
Health, was 12 years old when she
was taken from her home in the
Netherlands and sent to work in
two concentration camps. She was
14 when she was liberated.
During the ceremony, Butter
stressed the importance of honor-
ing the lives lost during the Holo-
caust.
“When these people were mur-
dered, they were not given a proper
burial, and their names and iden-
tities were lost,” she said. “We
depend on you, the future genera-
tions, to tell these stories and read
the names.”
In an interview after the cere-
mony, Butter said she returns to the
University to share her story and
teach the younger generations les-
sons from the Holocaust.
“It’s not just important that they
learned what happened, but it’s
important that they also learn the
lessons,” she said. “You can’t be a
bystander, because we have to be
vigilant about stopping and pre-
venting discrimination and oppres-
sion any types of inequality because
people are all the same.”
Students hold vigil on Diag for
Holocaust Remembrance Day
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
LSA juniors Michelle Shumunow and Polina Fradkin read a prayer at Conference on the Holocaust’s annual Reading of the
Names ceremony on the Diag Wednesday evening.
cent of the 103,753 donors giving
less than $25,000 were alumni; last
year only 44.6 percent of the 119,168
donors were alumni. This is signifi-
cant given the fact that the majority
of donors give within this range.
Additionally, over the past decade
the University’s alumni participation
rate has declined. While total dona-
tions have continued to rise, the per-
centage of alumni that donate each
year decreased from 15.2 percent in
2005 to 9.9 percent in 2014.
Michigan is not alone in this trend.
In fact, nearly all schools in the Big
Ten have seen a decrease in alumni
participation since 2004, with the
average dropping from 13.8 percent to
10.1 percent over 10 years.
Megan Doud, director of the Uni-
versity’s Annual Giving program,
spends most of her time looking at
these numbers. Doud explained that
the University has focused more
attention on groups affiliated with
the University who are not necessar-
ily alumni. In particular, individuals
tied to non-degree granting units —
such as the hospital, libraries, botani-
cal gardens and others — have been
an increasing source of funds.
“A shift to broader perspective on
population and then more emphasis
on these areas that are really more
community-based, or almost more
like a separate nonprofit even though
they’re from the University of Michi-
gan, has really increased that non-
alumni support,” she said.
Tom Baird, assistant vice presi-
dent of development and campaign
strategy, said some donors within
that category are also attracted to the
“marketable” work done at the hospi-
tal. The prospect of curing a disease
is particularly enticing to donors, he
said, and is able to attract donors with
little prior connection to the Univer-
sity.
“Research is huge,” Baird said.
“People make gifts to help facilitate
patient care; there’s a whole variety of
things people can give to.”
Doud added that this year’s Giving
Blue Day also played a large role in
donation totals for the year.
Of course, alumni still provide a
large portion of the donation base.
Of the University’s total alumni,
46.3 percent have given at least once
in their lifetime. Of those who have
donated, 39.9 percent live in Michi-
gan. California holds the next larg-
est group of donating alumni with
8.17 percent; Illinois has 5.52 percent,
New York 4.77 percent and Florida
3.42 percent. By region, the North-
east holds 18.15 percent of donating
alumni, the West 15.41 percent.
Additionally, according to Judy
Malcolm, senior director of executive
communications in the Office of Uni-
versity Development, the University
has a 70 percent donor retention rate
— meaning 70 percent of donors from
the previous year gave again. Malcom
said this is the highest retention rate
in the Big Ten.
Further examination of the Uni-
versity’s donation data by the Daily
shows the school ranks among the
highest in the country in terms of
total dollars raised. Since 2004, the
earliest year data was available from
CAE, the University’s alumni dona-
tion totals has placed it in the top 20
amounts of all colleges, except for
2011.
The University’s donations have
increased by almost 71 percent since
2004, whereas the median donation
total for the top 20 has increased by
61 percent.
Ann E. Kaplan, the Voluntary Sup-
port of Education survey director
of CAE, said while alumni partici-
pation is generally declining across
the country, average gift sizes are
increasing — this year by 7 percent.
Kaplan said public institutions are
increasingly joining the ranks as top
fundraisers. She added that while
public universities have had to catch
up to private schools, which have his-
torically relied more on philanthropy
for funding, all large schools have the
capacity to become top-tier fundrais-
ers.
“A lot of the increase in giving
in this particular year was due to a
resurgence of major gifts for positions
of wealth,” Kaplan said. “So that’s
where you might see fewer donors
but you’ll see more contributions at
greater values.”
The Daily’s data analysis focuses
on 2013, the latest available year. The
University was 14th highest in dona-
tions that year, bringing in more than
$351 million. To understand how dif-
TARGET
From Page 1
See TARGET, Page 3
See STUDENTS, Page 3